As we all know it is important to be informed, however it is important that we are objective with the information we receive on a daily basis.
By Adhir Uzcategui*
Many people make decisions based on rumors and news that should not affect them.
Once upon a time there was a person who lived on the side of a road where he sold some delicious meatballs with bread. He was very busy and therefore did not listen to radio, read newspapers or watch TV. He rented a piece of land, put up a large fence, and announced his merchandise shouting at the top of his lungs: "Buy delicious hot dumplings."
And people bought them. The acquisition of bread and meat increased. He bought a larger piece of land so he could take care of his business, and he worked so hard that he arranged for his son to leave the University where he was studying Commercial Sciences in order to help him.
However, something very important happened; his son said, "Old man, don't you listen to the radio, or read the newspapers...? We are suffering a serious crisis! The situation is really bad; worse could not be!".
The father thought: "My son studies at the University, reads the newspapers, watches television and listens to the radio. He must know better than I do what's going on..."
He then bought less bread and less meat. He took out the advertising fence, left the rent of the land in order to eliminate expenses and no longer announced his rich meatballs with bread. And sales were decreasing every day more.
"You were right my son," he told the boy. "We are truly suffering a great crisis."
Moral
Let us not continue to talk about crises.
Let's just talk about doing good business, good jobs and good tasks.
If we program ourselves to fail, we will fail.
If we mentalize ourselves to win, we will win.
It's a simple personal choice
"A well-posed problem is a solved problem"
First, collect as much information as possible about your company, your resources, the market... and analyze your possible exits taking special care not to confuse facts with value judgments. To distinguish them, use only the variables that you can back up with real facts and data and eliminate those that come from expressions such as "I think..." or "I think...".
If you are clear about your decisions, "it will be much easier for you to maintain them, even if they are not politically correct. You must put them into practice, but always taking into account how they will affect employees emotionally. You have to be firm, but manage the effect on the team well. And in this sense it is essential not to make decisions that go against our own values," explains Belén Dávila, HR support manager of Randstad.
Your ability to get employees involved in your anti-crisis strategy will also be key to getting it through.
Ronald C. Stern, president of the consulting firm Stern International, recommends "humanizing the company because if your team is afraid, it will not be able to act, and at this time the most important thing is that it acts. It's like in football. The one who arrives and has the opportunity to score a goal is not going to ask the coach for fear if he should shoot or not, because then he has already lost the opportunity."
The approach in a company is identical. "It is necessary to create a human environment, to be authentic as a person and if we talk about leadership, to set an example. The entrepreneur must demand much more from himself than others expect of him. To be a leader is to be in front, not on top," Stern says.
Don't lose focus
For Belén Dávila, leadership in difficult times must be focused on two points: focus and execution. "We must try to look at the crisis from a distance: visualize the factors that caused it, detail it as much as possible and try to visualize its end. In this way, we can better analyze the situation and come to perceive the best way to deal with the problem and reach a final solution," he explains.
In order not to deviate from our goal, Dávila recommends "taking a little distance and seeing this situation as if it were a movie. Visualize why things happen and think about what I would do as the main actor to get out of that crisis. If you take a distance and visualize it, you're going to be able to see it as a participant and take the emotion (in this case pressure) away from situations."
Happy Sales!
* If you want to contact the author of this article write to [email protected]
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